Feliz Ano Novo!

December 31, 2011

Sending you greetings from Lisbon, Portugal of Fado, Pastel de Nata, Citrus in the Winter Sun, Ocean Air, and Terra Cotta Skylines. There is so much to tell, so many stories to recount, so many recipes to research, and so little sleep amidst the escapades of travel. Let us bring in the New Year with joy! (5 hours earlier…) xoxo.

Pastel de Nata, a small, traditional sweet egg tart in a buttery crisp shell, served on every corner, at every hour of the day. If you are Portuguese, you will always have an excuse to stop for a pastel de nata and espresso. We bring in the New Year with much buttery and eggy joy, as our teeth and our tongues welcome the sweetness of a cultural identity.

Pastel de Nata at Califa Bakery, Lisbon

Bolo-Rei, or King’s Cake, the traditional Portuguese Christmas and New Year Cake, coming up from the ovens by the dozens this morning at Califa, with espresso-sipping men lined up at the pastry counter (the mystery of how such tiny cups never slip through such rugged, rounded hands, I will never know), clamoring women sneaking closer to the cake counter and sticky-fingered children waiting impatiently in line for their ribbon-wrapped box. The disorder of the hoards of people somehow makes a symphony in front of the audience of cakes who await their saccharine end.